Children's Literature From South Africa

Guest Author - Paula Laurita

Look across the ocean to this terrific site from South Africa!

When educators and librarians in the United States think of Africa we tend to think of a mono-culture. This is not true. Africa is a varied continent, stretching from Morocco and Egypt in the north to South Africa and Swaziland in the south. When teaching research skills to sixth grade I would ask them to select a animal that lives in Africa to explore. I would then challenge them by naming animals and ask them to say if they lived on the continent. Whenever I would say, 'Penguin,' the immediate response was, "No!" We then discussed the location of South Africa in relation to the Antarctic.

From the University of South Africa comes this great site. The Children's Literature Research Unit promotes children's literature and reading through study, research, community programmes and other promotion activities. The site has sections that allow you to explore South African, African, and Afrikaans children's literature.

The Unit is involved in the promotion of South African children's literature locally and abroad by organizing exhibitions, publications and lectures and introducing it to to publishers and other people working in the field of children's literature.

This is done through national and international conferences, seminars, and exhibitions. The bibliographies are helpful for librarians attempting to build a more comprehensive collection about the continent of Africa.